


And You Caused It (An Undertale Story) (Semi-Permanent Hiatus!)

by AlexTheDuckPotato



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, okay i'll put in real tags later, whooP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2018-12-19 21:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 19,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11906247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexTheDuckPotato/pseuds/AlexTheDuckPotato
Summary: When Frisk messes around with the game files, something in the game changes. Something big. That big thing, however can have deadly side effects.





	1. The Gray Room

**Author's Note:**

> For some quick background info in the story and ages and stuff:
> 
> Route: Pacifist
> 
> Ages:
> 
> -Frisk: 18
> 
> -Sans: 22
> 
> -Papyrus: 20
> 
> -Gaster: ???
> 
> -Monster Kid: 15
> 
> -Undyne: 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> None of the Wingding text would show up, so I had to retranslate it all back to English :)

Frisk has decided to mess around with some of the stuff in the files. When she reopens the game, a mysterious gray door appears.

* Do you open it?

❤YES NO

Gaster's eyes open. He looks at the small human standing before him. She looks...unsure. Not scared, not defiant...just unsure. He reaches toward the human. She hesitates, then steps toward the strange man. His hands begin to make strange symbols that the human can't read. It's not the sign language she knows. Once he realizes that speaking in Wingdings is confusing the human, Gaster begins to speak.

"My sons," he says in a gentle, kind voice, "Where are they?"

"W-who are your sons?" the human stutters, using her voice for the first time in years.

Gaster is surprised. "Frisk, you know you do not have to use your voice if you don't want to." he says.

Now it was Frisk's turn to be surprised. "How do you know my name?"

she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"I've been watching you throughout the timelines, child. You and my son, Sans, have the best friendship I've ever seen. His brother, Papyrus, also loves you."

Frisk was aghast. "Sans and Papyrus are your sons?"

Gaster nodded. " Yes, and my name is W.D. Gaster, but you can just call me Gaster."

Frisk fell silent. This was striking news to her. All of a sudden, an idea pops into Frisk's head. She is filled with determination. Gaster knows what she's thinking. He says sadly,

"It's not going to work. I cannot exist outside this room unless someone opens a portal from the void of nonexistence into this world."

Frisk kept thinking. A new idea came, and before Gaster could contradict it, Frisk was running out the door, yelling over her shoulder for him to wait.

Frisk ran through the Underground without stopping. Her soul was more determined than it ever had been before. She whipped around a corner in Snowdin and ran smack into something. That "something" was Sans. Frisk fell back, crashing into a patch of snow poffs. Thankfully, the poffs broke Frisk's fall and she didn't take any damage.

"Whoa, kid. Are you alright? What were you running from?" Sans asked, sounding worried as he helped her out of the snow.

Frisk was seriously out of breath from her run. After her breathing regulated, she managed to say, "I need you to come with me. There something you might want to see." Sans was speechless.

Not because of the words Frisk had said, but because she spoke. With her voice. Out loud. Sans was shocked. Eventually, he snapped out of it and Frisk tugged on his sleeve.

"It's this way," Frisk told him, pulling him down the hallway that she had just rocketed out of.

Despite himself, Sans couldn't help thinking that Frisk had a pretty voice. He shook the thought out of his head and followed her.

They ended up in Waterfall. The gray door was closed again. Frisk stopped and turned to Sans.

"Brace yourself. This might shock you." she warned.

Frisk opened the door, and Sans was surprised as Gaster was. Sans stepped toward the figure of his father.

"Dad?" Sans signed in the same strange language Gaster had used before.

"S︎a︎n︎s︎!︎ i︎t︎s︎ b︎e︎e︎n︎ s︎o︎ l︎o︎n︎g︎!︎" 

Frisk had no idea what they were saying, but their faces said it all. While the whole scene was touching, Frisk knew there was something to be done.

"I hate to break this up, but..." Frisk began, awkwardly stepping between father and son. "Sans, I brought you here because there is a way we can get him out of the void."

As Sans's gaze broke from Gaster and shifted to Frisk.

"What's your plan, kid?" Frisk took a deep breath.

"It's a simple plan, but it may take a lot of energy. In order to get your father out of the void, a portal needs to be opened between here and the void of nonexistence. I think you can do that Sans." For once, Sans looked unsure of himself. Gaster chimed in,

"Frisk, he can't do it on his own. Your determination is powerful enough to create the portal, combined with his blue magic."

Frisk blanched. "Me?" Sans rolled his eyes.

"No, the other Frisk. Yes, you!"

"I...I can try." she said, uncertain.

Sans and Frisk stood facing each other, Frisk's soul floating between them. Gaster stood off to the side, watching intently. Sans's left eye began to flash blue and yellow. Electricity crackled through the air. Frisk's soul glowed brighter than ever, mingling with Sans's magic. Frisk's hair lifted, as did Gaster's long cape and Sans's hoodie, then all three began to rise off the ground. Sans and Frisk were losing energy fast as the magic began focusing into one area right in front of the door. They were both straining to keep the constant flow of magic and determination going. As their energy drained, the harder it was to keep going. With one final push, they did it. The gray door glowed with a new light. It had been turned into a portal out of the void.

Frisk, Sans, and Gaster came crashing to the floor, the portal creators were exhausted. Predictably, Sans fell asleep right then and there. Frisk's body felt like it had been through a war. But her soul refused to quit. She stood on shaky legs and croaked weakly,

"Go through it, Gaster. It'll close as soon as you pass." With a grateful smile, Gaster opened the door and stepped through the portal. There was a bright flash, then the door returned to normal. Frisk dragged Sans to it, stumbling and losing her grip a few times. Sans was heavier than Frisk by a lot, so it was hard dragging him. Especially when she had just drained all her energy creating a portal.

When she finally made it out into Waterfall with Sans, Gaster was standing there. He looked different than he had in the Gray Room. Now, he was tall and slender. They all walked back to Snowdin, very exhausted, but happy. Sans had woken up by then. The procession attracted attention from almost everyone they passed. Monster Kid saw Gaster, confused as to who he was. He ran up to him. "Yo, who are you? You look kinda like Sans and Papyrus," Just then, the kid's lack of arms threw him off balance. He fell on his face. "I'm okay, don't worry," He said, seeing Gaster's worried expression. "That explains the black eyes," Gaster thought. Suddenly, he remembered something, no, someone.

"Papyrus! I haven't seen him yet! Sans, do you know where he is?" He exclaimed.


	2. Family Reunion

By the time they had got past Monster Kid, Frisk's legs gave out. Between having to drag Sans and creating that portal, she just collapsed. She fell into a snow poff. Frisk found 30g inside of it. She pocketed the gold and tried to stand. Gaster took pity on the two of them and used his magic to carry both Sans and Frisk the rest of the way, Frisk being the navigator. Frisk and Sans's souls turned a mixture of blue and orange as Gaster carried them. Frisk wondered if Papyrus had any magic, since both his brother and his father did. Just as Frisk finished that thought, she fell asleep. Soon enough, they all reached the Skelebros' house. With the rest Sans and Frisk got, they had enough energy to walk to the door and knock.

"Come on in!" Papyrus said, mouth full of spaghetti. Sans walked in first.

"Hey bro," he said as he flopped on the couch. Frisk walked in afterwards.

"Hi, Papy," said Frisk, the first time she spoke out loud to Papyrus.

"SANS! THE HUMAN CAN TALK! OH MY GOD! THIS IS AMAZING! ANYWAYS, DO YOU GUYS WANT SOME SPAGHETTI?" Papyrus said very loudly.

"Sure bro, but we also brought another person with us," said Sans as Gaster walked in.

Papyrus didn't realize at first who it was, since he hadn't seen Gaster since he was a baby. He took a giant bite of spaghetti.

"Hello Papyrus. It's been a long time," Gaster said to Papyrus. Papyrus froze for a moment, and spit spaghetti all over Sans, who had risen from the couch and was standing next to Gaster.

"Wow, nice. Real nice," Sans said. He went upstairs to change. Frisk fell against the wall, laughing. Even Gaster chuckled.

"OH MY GOD ANOTHER MIRACLE! DAD! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE! NYEHEHEHEHEHEH" Papyrus screamed so that the entire town of Snowdin heard. He ran as fast as he could and tackled Gaster. "Oops, sorry!" Papyrus said.

"It's okay, Papyrus.i'm excited to see you too!" Gaster replied. Frisk was confused at what they were saying, so Sans translated, but fell asleep after he finished. Sans landed on the floor with a loud THUD. Frisk guessed the nap on the way here didn't provide enough energy to keep him awake. She was also feeling very tired and fell on the floor. Her legs couldn't keep her up, and she fell asleep next to Sans.

Papyrus looked at Sans and Frisk after he ate and Gaster forced down spaghetti.

"What do we do about this?" Papyrus asked. Since he didn't have any magic, he couldn't carry them that way, and since Sans was super heavy, he couldn't carry them normally.

"I got this Papyrus. You go up to bed, and I'll put these two upstairs. They had a long day." replied Gaster. Papyrus obeyed his father and went upstairs to his room. As he was doing this, Gaster used his powers on Sans and Frisk. Walking up the stairs, he remembered how little Sans and Papyrus were the last time he saw them. Sans was 5, while Papyrus was only 1 when Gaster got erased from time and space. When he stopped thinking about it, he was already at Sans's room. He walked inside, put Sans on one side of the bed, and Frisk on the other, and left the room. He had a long day too, using energy to carry those two everywhere. He then fell asleep on the couch.

Papyrus, still awake in his room, came out when he heard no noise for a few minutes. He saw Gaster on the couch, sleeping. Papyrus took the spare blanket and placed it on top of him.

"Goodnight, Dad," he whispered softly while hugging him. Then he went up to sleep. Everyone at the Skeleton residence had a long and tiring day, so it was good to finally get some rest.

Word got around quickly that Gaster has been spotted in Waterfall and Snowdin. When the news reached Hotland, Alphys was surprised as much as anyone. She quickly typed a message to Mettaton, but just as she was going to hit Send, she hesitated. She remembered that Mettaton was hosting his hit cooking show, Cooking With A Killer Robot. She timed the message to go out 5 minutes after the show ended.

"He is a famous star, so I'll let him be." She thought. After the show ended, he received the email. He had a spark.

"Ooh, yes. He would be the perfect person to go on my show. Or in my fabulous play. Hmm... I'll go give them all a visit tomorrow," Said Mettaton to himself. "Shutting down..." said the automatic voice. He then transformed into his box form and shut down for the evening.

And that was only the beginning of Gaster's return.


	3. One Fabulous Robot

The next morning, Gaster woke up to the smell of burnt spaghetti.

"Oh no, Papyrus is making breakfast," He thought as footsteps came down the stairs.

"'Sup everyone," said Sans. He flopped on the couch as he usually does, but didn't see that Gaster was there.

"Sans, get your butt off of my face!" Gaster tried to say, but was muffled. He used his powers to throw Sans off, but he accidentally launched him out the window.

"Oops," Gaster muttered as he checked the now broken window. More footsteps came running towards the window, one down the stairs and one from the kitchen.

"What happened?" Frisk and Papyrus both said at the same time.

"METTATON?!" yelled Sans. They all ran outside to see Mettaton there holding Sans. "M-Mettaton, h-hi," Papyrus stuttered. He was blushing bright orange while talking to him. Gaster was really confused as to who he was, so Sans took him aside and explained.

"This robot dude named Mettaton is a famous TV star and Papyrus really likes his shows. He watches them every chance he gets." Sans said.

"So why was he blushing?" Asked Gaster.

"I don't know why, maybe he likes Mettaton as a star and is excited?"

"Ah, okay then"

They both walked back to where everyone else was.

"...and that's why I am a really huge fan of Mettaton," Papyrus had just finished explaining why he was such a big fan of Mettaton to Frisk.

"Hey Mettaton, why don't you come inside?" Gaster asked Mettaton.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Mettaton said graciously. They all went back inside and ate (more like choked down) burnt spaghetti.

"So, Gaster, I have to ask you some questions." Mettaton said afterwards.

"Alright, go ahead," Gaster replied.

"Where have you been all this time?" Mettaton asked. He sounded like a reporter in a way. Gaster thought this question was very strange. If he didn't know who Mettaton was, how did Mettaton know who he was?

"How do you know who I am?" Gaster asked Mettaton, curious.

"I know lots of things, darling. Now answer my question." Gaster hesitated.

"I was ripped from existence. It was from a project I am not allowed to speak of."

Sans looked nervous in a way. He knows about the experiment. He was there when his dad was ripped from existence. So was Papyrus, but he was too young to understand. It is because of this that Sans avoids the Core. The room fell silent. Mettaton continued, not caring about the fact that this was a sensitive topic. "

Ripped from existence, you say? How did you get back?" Sans and Frisk looked at each other, then looked down.

"It is a long story that I would rather not get into, if you please." Gaster said firmly. Mettaton looked irritated.

"Fine. Now that you've returned, are you planning on taking back the position of Royal Scientist?" That question Gaster had an answer to.

"No, I do not. I am going to stay home with my sons. To catch up with them after all these years," Mettaton nodded, interested.

His phone vibrated. "Excuse me, darlings." He drawled, pulling it out and looking at the screen. His expression changed faster than you can say 'Mettaton is Fabulous.'

"I'll be right back," He said.

He went outside to take the call. After a minute of waiting, Frisk went to see what was talking Mettaton so long.

"What project was he talking about...the determination project? What's that? ... Why won't you tell...? Oh, I see. I'll talk to you later then... Goodbye," Mettaton said to the other person on the line.

The moment he hung up, Frisk ran back inside, and sat down next to Sans.

"Sorry that took so long, I must be going. I have important business to take care of," Mettaton said as he hurried off.

"And thank you Papyrus for the spaghetti. Goodbye," Papyrus blushed so dark orange it was almost brown. "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODDDDDD!!!!!! METTATON LIKED MY SPAGHETTI!!! AHHHHH!!!!" Papyrus said.

He fainted, but Gaster caught him with his magic before he hit the ground. "Well, that's one superfan." Gaster whispered to Sans and Frisk.

"Sans, go take care of Papyrus. I have some business to do here in Snowdin. Frisk, can you make a decent breakfast?" Gaster asked.

"I can make pancakes," Frisk said, trying to think of breakfast foods she can make. "Great, I'll be back in about an hour. Bye," Gaster said as he left towards the librarby (It's the library, that's how it's spelt on the sign). Sans was working on Papyrus, slapping him, throwing him against walls, and just trying to wake him up without dunking him. He was blabbing about how much he loves Mettaton's shows and how fabulous Mettaton was.

"Sleep talker. This is why we never bunked," said Sans, exhausted. Frisk was making the pancake batter when all of this was happening, and didn't notice a thing.


	4. Project: DETERMINATION (Part One)

"Hey, Gaster? I have a question for you," Frisk told Gaster later that day. Papyrus had recovered, but was still in shock. Sans had recovered him, somehow.

"Go ahead, Frisk," Gaster replied, curious as to what the child wanted to know. Since he used to be the royal scientist, he loves theories and questions.

"What was 'The Determination Project.'?" Frisk asked. "Mettaton said it over the phone, and I wanted to know what it was." Gaster blanched. He wasn't expecting that. Frisk noticed, but was determined to get the information she wanted. Sans overheard and began eavesdropping on them, since he knew all about the project.

"Ah, it was just a little experiment that-" Gaster started.

"Was that the project that caused you to get erased?" Frisk asked firmly, wanting to know.

Sans felt tears form in his eyes, remembering the day he had lost his dad. Sans still wanted to listen to what they were saying, but he was starting to lose control over his emotions. He didn't want to lose Gaster again. Papyrus came over, hearing San's stifled sobs.

"What's wrong, Sans?" He asked. Sans sniffed, and stuttered,

"I-I don't w-want t-to lose D-dad ag-again," He finally broke down and cried blue tears all over Papyrus, not able to control himself.

"It's okay Sans, we'll all be okay," said a voice behind him. Gaster was standing behind them, along with Frisk. Frisk had never seen Sans lose himself like this. It was sad. 

"Dad! You heard everything, didn't you? I just really don't want to lose you again," Sans said, panicking slightly.

"Don't worry Sans, I'll always be here. Especially in the heart," Gaster replied calmly.

"Thanks, Dad," Sans said, relieved. He gave Gaster a tight hug, almost choking him. "O-ok Sans! Too tight! Ow!" Gaster exclaimed.

"Oh! Sorry," Sans realized.

It was only mid-day, and they already had nothing to do. They went to Grillby's, but that didn't last long. Sans got drunk on ketchup in less than 5 minutes. They tried making spaghetti, but they almost blew up the kitchen. They tried taking a nap. Papyrus had a nightmare. They tried to watch TV, but Mettaton's show wasn't on until nighttime. Speaking of Mettaton... Mettaton came to the house about half an hour before the day's show started. He knocked on the door, and of course, Papyrus answered it.

"AHH! *ahem* I mean, hello Mettaton. What are you doing here?" Papyrus said.

"I wanted to ask Dr. Gaster a question, just one more," Mettaton explained. Papyrus wanted to slam the door, remembering what had happened earlier, but he couldn't do that to his favorite star.

"Sure! I don't see why not," Papyrus replied, a little awkwardly.

They both went inside. Sans and Gaster were facing each other in a game of checkers, and Frisk was on the UnderNet, chatting with Alphys.

"I just have one question. For Gaster," Mettaton said.

"What is it then?" Gaster questioned warily. He, too, remembered what had happened.

"Would you like to be on my show tonight? We need a special guest, and I think you would be perfect for it," Mettaton answered.

Everyone except Gaster gasped. "I'd love to," Gaster replied. "Splendid! We must go now! The show starts in 30 minutes!" Mettaton exclaimed. They all then left, and were on their way to Hotland.

Sans realized too late where they were heading. "On second thought, maybe I should stay home..." Sans said. Frisk was concerned. "What's wrong?" she asked him, gently touching his arm. Gaster shot her a side glance. He knew what was going on.

Suddenly, Sans stopped and said, "Everybody join hands." Since Sans is wary of the Core because he lost his father there, he decided to teleport them all to the studio so he didn't have to see the actual place.

Gaster took Mettaton's hand, Mettaton took Papyrus's hand ("I'm holding his HAND, Frisk!" Papyrus whispered excitedly.), Papyrus held Frisk's hand, then Sans took Frisk's other hand. There was a flash of blue light, and the next thing they knew, they were at the studio. People were already lining up at the doors, so Mettaton led them in through the back.

"Okay. Sans, you take Papyrus and Frisk into the audience. Here are three front row passes," Mettaton told them, handing them each a ticket.

"Gaster, come with me. We have to get ready," Gaster followed Mettaton to the dressing room, and the other three went into the audience.

In the dressing room, Mettaton was trying to figure out what outfit looked best on Gaster.

"Hmm...this one? No, too girly. This one...? Nah, too crappy. Ah! This one? YES YES YES! It looks so fabulous! Now go try it on!"

Mettaton was a fashion expert, so obviously he knew what he was doing. Gaster went to try it on, and of course, he looked amazing.

"So, umm...how does it look?" Gaster asked Mettaton.

"You look fabulous, darling! Now, it's showtime! Let's go knock 'em dead!" Mettaton said cheerfully.

In the audience, Sans bought MTT-Brand cotton candy, Papyrus brought leftover spaghetti from home, and Frisk bought some MTT-Brand nachos.

"How do you think Dad will look?" Sans asked Papyrus.

"Well, I think he'll look great, of course! Mettaton has a great sense of style in my opinion," Papyrus answered happily.

"Shh! It's starting!" Frisk whispered-shouted at them. The lights were dimming. Everyone sat down and fell quiet, watching the empty stage. The pre-show music playing was 'Can You Really Call This A Hotel, I Didn't Receive A Mint On My Pillow Or Anything' (). Just after the song ended, the show began.


	5. Our Fabulous Show! (Part One)

"Hello, Underground! I am your host, Mettaton! Today on our show, we have a very special guest! And no, it's not Undyne. Remember what happened last time she was on our show?"

Flashback- 6 months ago...

"NYGAHHHH!!!! WHY CAN'T I FIGURE THIS QUESTION OUT!!!!!" Undyne yelled. She was trying to solve the last question to Mettaton's quiz, which was 9 + 10. The choices were:

19

21

Mettaton

Banana 

"DO I GET A CALL?!" She yelled to Mettaton.

"No, Undyne, that would be cheating," Mettaton replied calmly.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! SCREW THIS! I'M DONE!" She yelled, and a blue spear materialized in her hand. She threw it at the screen with the answers, then at Mettaton

"AHHHH! Not the legs!!!"

Present Day

"Yeah, we all remember that day...ANYWAYS! Let's meet our guest. He was erased from time and space but somehow managed to get back. He is part of the skeleton family with his two sons. And he is the former royal scientist. GIVE IT UP FOR W.D. GASTER!" Mettaton said to the audience

. Cheers came from the crowd as Gaster stepped out from behind the curtain and walked to Mettaton at center stage. Sans, Papyrus, and Frisk were cheering the loudest, of course, and Mettaton was liking the audience's enthusiasm.

"Alright, we're going to be doing a normal show, but with a special twist towards the end," Mettaton announced.

"First question: How many letters are in Mettaton(nnnnnnnnnnn....)"

8 (numbers go up)

10 (numbers go up

12 (numbers go up)

6 (numbers go up)

"A," Gaster said.

"That is correct!" Mettaton said happily. "Second question. Who is the current royal scientist?"

Alphys

Heats Flamesman

Mettaton

Snowdrake

"A," Gaster said again.

"Correct again!" Mettaton exclaimed. He could tell that Gaster knew all the questions easily. So he gave him a harder question. "Third question," Mettaton asked. "Would you smooch a ghost?"

Heck Yeah

Heck Yeah

Heck Yeah

Heck Yeah

"Pfft. All of them. They're all the same," Gaster said with a smirk.

"Yes! That is the BEST answer to my favorite question! Alright, the last question," Mettaton announced. He shot Sans a quick side glance, then went back to Gaster.

"How many times has Frisk reset?"

20

6

17

None

Gaster knew this question, but only he, Sans, and Frisk knew about the resets. From the audience, Sans snapped his fingers and an E option appeared.

E) What are 'resets'?

Gaster saw Sans do this, and mouthed "Thank you," Out loud, he said, "E,"

"W-what? Umm...E is correct! You have won the quiz show!" Mettaton said, sounding a bit confused.

"Alright, now for...Cooking With A Killer Robot!" Mettaton announced.

"Wait, a killer wha-?" Gaster asked, but was cut off and dragged away by Mettaton to the cooking stand.

"Alright, Gaster. I want you to preheat the oven, because we are going to be making a...cake!" Mettaton announced. Gaster had just preheated the oven when Mettaton said,

"My lovely assistant here would gather the ingredients. We'll need milk, sugar, and eggs." 

After hearing the ingredients, Gaster used his powers to summon them. People in the crowd gasped as they saw the magic. Papyrus started wondering if he had powers, since his dad and brother had powers.

"Perfect! Great job, darling. We've almost got all of the ingredients we need to bake the cake. As for the last one, today, we are going to use 'MTT-Brand Always-Convenient-Human-Soul-Flavor-Substitute', which is over on that counter," Mettaton explained.

Gaster knew what would happen, since he watched Frisk through other timelines. He used his powers again to try to grab the can, but it was glued to the table. Instead, he brought the whole counter over, and got hit with it.

"AHH!" Gaster yelled out in pain as the counter hit him in the head. A large crack appeared in his skull.

"Dad! Are you okay?!" Sans yelled, concerned as he ran up onto the stage and went over to the now unconscious skeleton.

Papyrus and Frisk finally got past security and went up onto the stage, joining Sans.  
"Oh no! Dad, Dad! Aghhhh! Spaghetti can't cure this!!!" Papyrus screamed.  
"Papy, calm down, he'll be fine," Frisk reassured him  
Mettaton was trying to take care of the injury. He called for a commercial break, hoping that the show will go on. The song on now was "Home (Music Box)" (). Sans carefully used his magic to carry Gaster into the dressing room. The other followed behind, worried.


	6. The Show Must Go On

Sans laid Gaster on the couch in Mettaton's dressing room. Gaster slowly opened his eyes, finally regaining conscience.

"Ugh...my head hurts," Gaster moaned.

"Oh nonononono, why did you get the alternative? You  **knew** it was gl- I mean *cough cough* You should have known Mettaton would throw something like that at you." Sans said, almost revealing to everyone that he knew about the resets.

Mettaton was slightly offended. Mettaton had an idea of resets now, but it wasn't his fault.

"What are resets anyways? I was going to ask that question earlier, but I didn't say it. Something's wrong with my coding again. I'll go see Alphys real quick," Mettaton told them.

"I'll teleport you there. It'll be faster that way," Sans said to Mettaton. He grabbed Mettaton's hand, and then in a flash of blue light, they disappeared.

"What happened?" Gaster asked, confused.

"You were hit with a counter," Frisk said, trying to hide a snicker. Papyrus also tried to stifle a giggle, but Gaster wasn't very happy with the laughing.

"This is serious. What happened when I was out?" Gaster asked.

"Calm down, Gaster, everyone is fine. You didn't take that much damage from the hit, but...um...your skull is cracked." Frisk explained.

"Wait, what?" Gaster lifted a hand to his head and felt the crack from his right eye over the top of his skull. "That's not the point. Did anyone tell Mettaton anything about the resets?" Gaster inquired, clarifying what he meant. Frisk shook her head.

"No, but all the talk about resets and things is confusing him and he wants to know more about them." They both looked at Papyrus, who had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. So, like a good skeleton, he took the hint and left them alone. As soon as he did, Frisk sighed and slumped against the wall.

"I don't want to remember the resets, Gaster. I don't want to be reminded of what I did, and what Chara did. It's so hard to just continue in this timeline, pretending I haven't seen the things I've seen. And Sans...I care so much about him, and being reminded of what I once did to him...it just kills me, Gaster! "

Tears started rolling down her face as she flashed back to the genocide timelines. The last image that came to her mind was Sans, slashed across the chest, bleeding heavily. His last words rang in her head...

"Papyrus, do you want anything?" Sans's voice faded away and Frisk came back to reality.

Gaster was holding her hand. His presence was comforting to her. Gaster knew Frisk regretted everything she did. After he had calmed her down, Gaster let Frisk's hand go and she went to clean herself up. As Frisk dried her tears and splashed water on her face, something shifted in the shadows. She shut the water off and walked over to the place she saw it. Nothing was there. 'Huh,' she thought. 'That's weird.' Gaster saw it happen from the couch. He hoped it wasn't what - or rather, who - he thought it was.

"I'm feeling better Frisk, I think we can-" Gaster started to say. Sans and Mettaton then returned, Mettaton's legs freshly cleaned and fixed.

"Legs so hot. Hot, hot legs," He said while showing off his legs. Sans was shaking drastically.

"I-I am s-still scared of H-hotland," Sans said. Again, he is scared of Hotland because of what happened to his father then.

"Well, since everyone is okay, let the show go on!" Mettaton announced.


	7. Our Fabulous Show! (Part Two)

"Alright everyone!" Mettaton announced to the audience. They stopped talking to hear what he had to say. "Gaster is okay, and luckily, the show will go on!" He said happily. The crowd erupted in cheers as Gaster came back onto stage. "As we all know, this is the part where we have our dance-off, but due to the injury we had earlier, I have an alternative ready, so this is something new for all of us here. So, who's ready for a song?" Mettaton asked the crowd.

Papyrus, Sans, and Frisk, now back in the audience, were surprised to hear this. Papyrus, who watches his show all the time ever since it first aired, has never seen this. He looked very interested as to what would happen next.

The pillar started to rise under Mettaton, so he was standing above everyone. Gaster used his magic to create his own pillar, being sure to make it a little lower than Mettaton's.

"Alright, beauties and gentlebeauties, This is the moment you've all been waiting for. The never-before-seen part of my show. The finale," He announced.

The audience quieted down to hear what was about to happen. Just as Mettaton opened his mouth, some random audio played. Sans and Papyrus knew what the song was, and looked at each other with a evil smile. Sans used his magic to teleport them both to the stage, where Gaster made them their own pillars too. Then they started singing in unison.

"WHAT DOES THE GASTER SAY?!

WING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING

WING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING

WING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!

WHAT DOES THE GASTER-"

Then the music stopped.

Mettaton was over at the audio stand, gasping with 3 cords in his hand.

"Well, that was the wrong song," He finally said. "Now, can you idiots play the right file?"

"Alright, jeez," A worker named Burgerpants said.

He hated working for Mettaton, but had to to make a living. He put a CD into the computer and opened the files. Mettaton put the cords back into place, and a different sort of audio began to play. It had a nice beat to it. Electronic. Mettaton used his jets to carry himself back to his pillar. Sans and Papyrus left the stage and rejoined Frisk in the audience. Then Mettaton started to sing.  
(Here- )

The clock stopped ticking forever ago.

How long have I been up?

I don't know.

I can't get a grip but I can't let go.

There wasn't anything to hold onto though.

Why can't I see?

Why can't I see?

All the colors that you see?

Please can I be?

Please can I be?

Colorful and free?

After this line, Mettaton threw the microphone over to Gaster, expecting him to sing. He caught it, then sang the next lines, a little shyly.

What the hell's going on, can someone tell me please?

Why I'm switching faster than the channels on TV?

I'm black, then I'm white, no something isn't right.

My enemy's invisible, I don't know how to fight

Noticing that Gaster was nervous, Sans and Papyrus went back onto the stage to sing with him. Frisk followed them this time. She liked to sing. After his sons and human friend joined him, they sang together.

The trembling fear

Is more than I can take

When I'm up against

The Echo in the mirror

Echo

A long instrumental began, then suddenly, the music glitched. Mettaton was furious. A different song began to play. A demonic voice with an unknown source began to sing.  
(Here- )

Here we are again...

Just me and you comedian, right

With your blasters, your flashing eye

You should better be prepared because soon...

Your last hour strikes

One step left now, it's almost time

Show you what my determination has still left for you to get back to

You should prepare to just die

Like all your friends, you'll have a really good time.  
But guys like you are always just fools

Come at me, try to kill me with your fancy tools

Let's go, now the room gets chiller

Let's go, just another killer

Go ahead, kill me again, I see you're able

But inside you know the end can't be evaded

I can tell you're really tired out of fighting

But I even come back after dying

Why not let me win? You can't dodge forever!

Even if the pain is more fun together

You know I will just reset and come back newer

And with every try I'm getting even faster than you are

I am made of L O V E

L O V E

Sans and Frisk looked at each other in alarm. Gaster was in shock. They all knew what this meant. Papyrus and Mettaton, of course, were clueless, but the three that understood launched themselves off their pillars, then off the stage. They ran to the audio booth and tried unplugging the cords again, but the song kept playing. The lyrics continued.

"This is where it stops,

This is where it ends."

You keep telling me those words and hope that I would understand.

But even if I hear you,

I won't give up my attack!

Do you just not see the truth?

Or can you not see what this all meant?

Go ahead, kill me again, I see you're able.

But inside you know the end can't be evaded.

You think I might decide to stop if you stay patient

But I am getting you with my determination

You know I made your friends all disappear,

At these words, Sans jolted. It was at that moment that they realized who was singing.

"Chara," Sans whispered under his breath. "Damnit, I should've known."

Gaster sighed. "That shadow in the dressing room...I hoped it wasn't her, but it was..."

"Wait, you saw it? I thought it was only me," Frisk said. The song had ended by then, and Burgerpants was trying to get the audio back to normal. Mettaton was yelling something to someone offstage and Papyrus was standing there, completely confused. The audience was scared, confused, and didn't know what was going on. Sans suddenly grabbed Gaster and Frisk's hands and teleported back to Snowdin. But they forgot one person.

Papyrus.


	8. Not Frisk This Time...

They arrived in the Skelebro's house. Every shadow made Frisk paranoid that Chara would try and possess her again. She didn't want Chara to hurt her friends again. Just the thought of her gives Frisk a chill down her spine.

Gaster muttered, "How could she have entered this world? This is a Pacifist timeline!"

Frisk was thinking about this too. Suddenly, Gaster gasped.

"I think I know what happened. Chara didn't exist in this timeline, so she was in the void of nonexistence. So when you two," he gestured to Frisk and Sans, "opened the portal for me, Chara was able to escape." Sans and Frisk looked at each other, then Frisk began to cry for the second time that day.

"It's my fault!" She sobbed. "It's always my fault! It was my fault the Genocide timelines happened! It was my fault that Chara possessed me! It's my fault she exists now!" Gaster tried to calm her down, telling her that it wasn't her fault.

Sans was reassuring Frisk also, holding her hand and muttering comforting words. He absently started thinking of how good Papyrus was at comforting people. He gasped.

"PAPYRUS! DAMNIT!" Sans exclaimed.

He stood up in a panic, realizing he had left his brother in the presence of the demon child. He started teleporting back to the Core. Gaster grabbed the desolate Frisk's hand, then grabbed his son's hoodie at the last minute. As soon as they arrived back at the studio, they saw Papyrus.

"Oh my god! Papyrus, are you okay?!" Sans asked, about to burst into tears.

"Sans, I'm alright. Just worried that you'd never come back..." He reassured Sans.

Sans looked at Papyrus. "You know I would never leave you forever bro," he told him.

"You left Papyrus here. That's not a good thing. Sans, you need to be more responsible," Gaster said.

"I panicked, Dad! You know how I feel about Chara and the resets!" Sans argued. "I feel terrible about leaving him! If something had happened to him, I don't know what I would do...and it's not fair for you to yell at me for being irresponsible when I've been the one raising him for almost his whole life! You weren't responsible with the Determination Project and that's what caused this in the first place!"

Frisk's eyes grew wide. She stepped back, fearing what would happen next. Papyrus was silent, not knowing what was going on as per usual.

"Sans, go home, right now. And take Papyrus with you," Gaster growled sternly. He looked furious, and Sans did not want to anger him more. He took Papyrus, who was still confused, and teleported back to Snowdin.

"Frisk, come with me. I have to show you something. You probably have seen this before in other timelines, but I wanted to tell you more about it," Gaster told Frisk.

He grabbed her hand, and in a spiral of blue and orange, they were teleported to a place Frisk has seen many times, but have never really looked through it. You can only get to it in a Pacifist timeline. Since you have to get there through an elevator, it took a bit longer to get to the point where Gaster was taking her.

Back in Snowdin, Sans was pretty pissed off.

"Damnit, Dad, you're telling me that I'm not responsible, I'm the one who raised him. You weren't there for most of his freaking life. It's not my fault the project went wrong. You're the one who created it, and I was just your little helper. Ugh...and now you're back and still treating me like a damn little kid. I'm 22 years old,"

Sans was talking down about the situation that just happened, and Papyrus was upstairs sleeping.

"Well, true, it was only an accident. *sigh* I know that it wasn't responsible. But I have to admit, he's right, I can't forget Papyrus like that, especially with Chara on the loose now," He looked at the clock and realized the time. It was almost midnight. "I'll talk about this tomorrow. It's late, and I don't want to keep my mind awake by thinking about this." Papyrus was still upstairs, not hearing anything, but it was best to still be careful. 

Sans slowly crept up the stairs, and went it to check on Papyrus. There were more shadows than usual in his room, so Sans prepared to attack. He covered his left eye, which was now flashing blue and yellow, so that Papyrus wouldn't wake up to see Sans in his room. He walked around, and made sure that Chara wasn't there. After the check, he left and went to his own room. After lying in bed for a while, worrying about Chara, he finally fell asleep.


	9. Project: DETERMINATION (Part Two)

Back in the True Lab, Gaster summoned Entry Number 17, an entry Frisk has never found. Since it was in Wingdings, Gaster translated.

"ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN. DARK DARKER YET DARKER. THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING. THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER. PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE. THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY, VERY INTERESTING...WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?" He told Frisk.

"Wow, that was... interesting," Frisk ѕaid.

"But that was only part of what I wanted to show you," He told Frisk. He took her hand again, and teleported farther into the lab. To the machine that Frisk had seen before, but had no idea what it did. "Here, this is what caused me to be erased. What caused everything to happen. This was called Project: DETERMINATION. And this machine is called the DT Extraction Machine. The machine malfunctioned, and with all the determination inside of it, opened a portal to the nonexistent world," He explained.

"That's why my determination helped open the portal for you!" Frisk suddenly understood.

"Exactly! Your determination plus Sans's magic replicated what happened with the DT Extraction Machine, thus the portal was created." Gaster concluded.

"Wait...why were you messing around with determination anyway?" Frisk asked. Gaster sighed. He knew it was time for her to know, to understand the experiment.

"Come with me, and I'll explain it." he told her. Gaster teleported them to Waterfall, where they both sat on the bank of the lagoon. He began talking.

"Years ago, the monsters were desperate for a way out of the Underground. When the human children first began to fall down here, it gave them all hope. Asgore began killing each human child and keeping their souls, knowing that seven would break the barrier. I, being the Royal Scientist, thought there had to be a better way. It was common knowledge that if a monster absorbed a human soul, they would be able to pass through the barrier without breaking it. Before I continue, let me tell you that human souls are able to exist after death because of one thing: Determination. Monster souls cannot exist after death because they do not have determination. This is also why they cannot break the barrier, or pass through it on their own.

So I had started thinking...What if I injected monsters with the determination from a human's soul? Would it substitute for absorbing the soul itself? Would one soul give more than one monster enough determination to go through the barrier? So I began Project: DETERMINATION to find out. Sans was old enough to be my lab assistant, but Papyrus was not. So we kept him in a playpen, where Sans would entertain Papyrus until I needed his help. I built the DT Extraction Machine to extract the determination from a human soul and convert it into an injectable liquid. I captured the next human that fell and put her soul in the machine. It was working perfectly, then suddenly the machine malfunctioned, as I said, and the portal opened.

Sans came over when he saw the portal, taking Papyrus with him. 'What is that, Dad?' he asked me. I told him I didn't know, which was true. I stepped closer to it, wanting to understand. What I failed to notice, however, is that the portal was off the edge of the Core. I lost my balance and fell, but caught myself on the edge of the cliff. I looked my sons in the eyes. Sans was yelling for me, coming to help me up, but I told him to stay back, that was an order. He and his little brother watched helplessly as I struggled to keep my grip. It was the first time I had ever seen Sans cry. His blue tears dripped to the ground next to his brother's orange tears. The last thing I said to them was 'I love you both,' but I couldn't keep my grip any longer, and I fell into the portal. My sons were the last thing I saw."

Frisk's hands flew to her mouth. Tears spilled down her face. Gaster had a few tears himself. The tears from his left eye were blue, and the ones from his right eye were orange. Frisk took one of Gaster's hands and held it, comforting him.

"You're here n-now...that's all th-that m-matters..." she said unsteadily.

"Thank you, Frisk. We should go back to Snowdin. I need to make things right with Sans." Gaster decided. They both stood, wiping their tears. Gaster teleported the both of them back to Snowdin. When they got there, Sans and Papyrus were sleeping, so they went to bed also.

During the night, a shadow appeared. It looked similar to Frisk, but this person had an evil look to her. Chara. She went into Papyrus's room, looked around to make sure no one was around, and let her being slip into his body. With Chara possessing Papyrus, she can control him at any time, just like with Frisk. He didn't know that she was inside of him, but he felt his determination to make the best spaghetti slipping away. She was using his unique, spaghetti-themed determination as an energy source.

Asleep, Gaster felt an evil presence chilling the house.

He had a nightmare that night: the Underground was getting erased again, Papyrus, Sans, and Frisk were being controlled and Chara was the puppeteer. He was running, but not getting anywhere. Chara was chasing him. He was trying to use his powers to stop her, but they weren't working. She grabbed the collar of his robe; his energy was draining. Trying to stay awake, he felt Chara growing stronger. He faded in and out of consciousness, but to his horror, Chara now had a psychical form with all her energy returned. She picked him up, held a knife to his chest.

"Any last words, Gaster?" She asked with a smirk.

"I-I-" Gaster stuttered. Chara laughed. "I didn't think so!" She plunged the knife into his soul.

And then he woke up.

Papyrus was the only one awake so far. He heard cries from the living room, where Gaster was.

"Dad, are you okay?" Papyrus asked worriedly as he ran down the stairs to his father. Blue and orange tears were coming down Gaster's face, but quickly wiped them away when Papyrus noticed.

"I-I'm fine, just had a bad dream," He replied.

"Dad, are you sure? You were just crying."

"Yes Papyrus, I am fine," Gaster responded firmly.

"O-okay then," Papyrus answered, realizing that he was angering his father. He had a feeling his family was hiding something. Between this, the conversation between his father and Frisk, and his being left in Hotland, he knew something was up.

"Would you like me to make some spaghetti for breakfast?" Papyrus asked, breaking the long silence between him and his father.

"Well, maybe not just yet," Gaster answered, seeing as it was only 5:30, "Maybe in a little while, when everyone is awake and hungry." He knew that this was probably torture to the rest of his family, but he couldn't let his son down.

"Wowie, that's an even better idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Papyrus exclaimed, delighted that the tense silence between his father and him had been broken. Gaster chuckled, realizing how overly happy his son was about the situation.

"Well, Papyrus, why don't you go back to bed for an hour or two? When you wake up again, everyone will probably be downstairs for you to cook for," Gaster suggested.

"Wowie! Where did all of your good ideas come from? I'll see you in awhile!" Papyrus shouted as he ran up the stairs, forgetting that his brother and Frisk were still asleep.

"Quiet down," Gaster whisper-shouted at his rambunctious son running up the stairs.

"Oh yeah! Sorry," Papyrus answered a little quieter, but still loud.

When everyone woke up at around 9:15, Papyrus wasn't his usual self. After sleeping for about 4 more hours, something has changed about him.

"Hey bro, what's for breakfast?" Sans asked, stomach rumbling. Of course, he knew the answer already, but always asked anyway.

"Eh, I don't know. I'll figure it out," Papyrus replied. Gaster heard Papyrus, and thought it was just a joke. Papyrus always made spaghetti for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no matter what.

"Are you making spaghetti Papyrus?" Frisk asked.

"Nah, how 'bout pancakes?" Papyrus asked. Gaster ran into the kitchen, yelling "WHAT?!" But he accidentally slammed into the wall, face first.

"Dad? You okay?" Sans asked. Gaster now had another crack in his skull, from his left eye down to his mouth. He searched his skull for cracks, and felt the new crack.

"Well, now I have two cracks," He finally said.

"Ah, at least you're okay," Frisk said relieved. Papyrus had just gathered all ingredients for pancakes.

"Did I mishear Papyrus, or is he really making  **pancakes**?" Gaster asked.

"I think really  **is** making pancakes," Frisk answered awkwardly. "Why not spaghetti, Papy?"

"Eh, I'm tired of spaghetti." Everyone is the house was worried now.

"But Papy, we all LOVE your spaghetti..." Sans said, confused.

"CAN A GUY JUST MAKE HIS FAMILY SOME PANCAKES?" Papyrus shouted. He was confused. He didn't expect his family to be so surprised. What's wrong with pancakes?

"Well...uhh...okay then, if you really want to," Sans told him as he walked over to his father and Frisk, they all noticed the suspiciousness of the situation.

"Welp, there he goes." Sans motioned to his little brother pouring the flour and milk into the bowl.

"I might know what's going on, but I really hope it's wrong," suggested Frisk

"Whatcha got, kid?" Sans asked her, hoping she wasn't thinking what he was. Frisk sighed.

"That might not be Papyrus. What if it's..."

"Chara?" Sans' fears have been realized.

"Well, yeah." Frisk, Sans, and Gaster sat in silence, with the sinking feeling that Chara is back again.

After they had eaten all of Papyrus' pancakes, Gaster wanted to talk to Papyrus.

"Hey, Papyrus. Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.

"Sure!" Papyrus replied. Gaster took him upstairs to his room, where they can talk in private.

"Why don't you want to make spaghetti anymore? You know you can tell me anything, right?" Gaster asked, concerned.

"I  **really** just don't want to. When I opened the fridge and saw all of my containers, I just thought 'This is a lot of spaghetti. Why do I still make it if I don't eat it?' So I decided to stop making spaghetti and try something new," Papyrus explained. Gaster searched his son's eyes, looking for a sparkle that meant he was playing a joke, or a red glow that meant Chara had complete control. He found nothing abnormal. 'However you're doing this, Chara,' he thought, 'You're doing it well.'


	10. What The Hell's Going On?!

That day was extremely tense. Sans was on edge, ready to attack anything suspicious. Papyrus still refused to make spaghetti, and while this saved his family from having to choke down the inedible food, it worried them. Without his passion for spaghetti, Papyrus just wasn't Papyrus. Frisk was constantly on the verge of tears, memories from the Genocide timelines flashing through her head. Gaster was confused. He understood why Chara was existing here, but how did she get enough power to possess? Didn't she need either determination or hate for power? Papyrus wasn't human, so he didn't have determination...unless...no, that can't be right. But he didn't have hate either. So what the hell happened?

Gaster dwelled on this for hours, and he could only come up with one theory, which he still thought unlikely. He told Papyrus they were leaving for a short while, and Papyrus yelled back to let him know he heard. He told Sans to go to the True Lab and wait for him and Frisk, and Sans agreed. Getting Frisk was going to be a little harder. He opened the door to Sans's room, knowing that Frisk slept in there. She was on the floor with her head buried in her hands.

"Frisk?" Gaster said softly. She looked up.

"Oh...h-hey Gaster." She wiped a few tears away.

"I think I might have a theory as to how Chara possessed your brother-"

"Did you just call him my brother?" Frisk interrupted him.

Gaster blanched. In his head, he had always thought of Sans, Papyrus, and Frisk as siblings. He called them all his children. But he had never voiced that out loud. "Yes, I did. I often think of you as my daughter, and Sans and Papyrus as your brothers." Gaster admitted.

Frisk smiled through her tears and blushed slightly. "That's great...because I think of you all the same way. You're my family."

Gaster smiled back, then got back to the topic at hand. "Anyway, I think I might know how Chara got strong enough to possess Papyrus, but I don't find it very likely. Come with me, Sans is waiting at the True Lab." He held a hand out to her and she took it. In a swirl of blue and orange, they were at the True Lab. Sans was leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. He looked calm and cool, but inside he was just the opposite. Gaster and Frisk joined Sans by the popato chisp machine. Frisk silently slid one of her hands into Sans's pocket. He took her hand for comfort. Gaster eyed this action, beginning to wonder if Sans and Frisk had become more than brother and sister. He shook it off for now.

"I have a theory as to how Chara gained enough strength to take control over Papyrus. We know she can feed on determination and hate, neither of which Papyrus has. But...what if he created his own, unique determination, and that's what Chara fed on?"

Frisk was shocked. "You mean...his spaghetti determination? Like how he was always determined to make the best spaghetti anyone had ever made?"

Gaster nodded. "This may have morphed into real determination, but it didn't cause his body to melt because it was generated by Papyrus himself. So because it was created naturally by him, he didn't become an amalgamate."

Frisk understood. "So now, Chara used that to gain enough power to control him."

"Exactly." Gaster concluded.

They both looked at Sans. He understood what they were saying, but he was slightly distracted. Sans had seen what Chara did to Frisk. When Frisk wanted to stop and turn back, Chara wouldn't let her. He remembered the regret in Frisk's eyes as she reached for the reset button, then Chara threw her back. Sans loved Frisk, in more ways than one, and seeing her helpless like that had torn him up. He didn't want what happened to her to happen to Papyrus. He snapped back to reality and nodded. "I understand." he said. "Now how do we stop her?"

"That's the hard part. We have to wait until she gathers enough power to have a physical form outside of Papyrus's body. After that, we know she's going to try to kill us for even more power. Then we can fight her and get rid of her forever." Gaster explained. "It's going to be a hard battle, but we have time to prepare. We will destroy her."

His children nodded. "Okay, now that's out of the way. Let's get back home." Frisk said.

When they teleported home, Frisk immediately went back up to hers and Sans's room. Sans went to follow her, but Gaster held him back. "Wait, Sans. I need to know something first."

"Sure, Dad. What's up?"

"Are you and Frisk...well...are you in love with Frisk? Not as a sister, but more than that?"

Sans was caught off guard. He was in love with Frisk, and Frisk knew it. She was in love with him as well. It seemed a little anticlimactic for his father to suddenly ask such an unimportant question while they were going through a horrible time. "That isn't important right now, Dad." Sans said.

"It's important to me because I consider her your sister, my daughter. I just want to make sure that 'sister' is the right term."

A bright blue blush crept into Sans's cheekbones. "Alright, fine, I do love Frisk as more than a sister. And she loves me too. Happy?"

Gaster tried hard not to smile. "Yes. You may go."

Sans stormed off, blushing a deeper blue every step he took. When he was gone, Gaster let himself smile. Sans and Frisk. Frisk and Sans. A great couple, now that he thought about it. 'Frans. That's what I'll call it.' Gaster said in his mind.

Gaster went upstairs to find Frisk. He heard her voice behind Sans's closed door.  
"...don't want to lose you." She was saying. Gaster stopped. Even though he knew he shouldn't, he listened through the door.  
"Frisk, listen to me. Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm worried about you. Since you're a pacifist, she might go after your determination for easy power. That means you might need to finally hit that FIGHT button." Sans said as Frisk gasped.  
"I don't want to be a Genocide Frisk again, or even a Neutral. I don't want anyone to get hurt accidentally."  
"Then you need to find a place to hide where she won't find you." Sans told her.  
"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU GUYS TO FIGHT HER ALONE!" Frisk yelled unexpectedly. Then it sounded like Frisk was crying.  
"Shhhhh...everything will be okay...just calm down, verta-babe..." The pun lightened the mood a little, and Frisk sighed.  
"All we have to do now it wait..." she said. Gaster walked back downstairs. He dwelled on what he had heard. Frisk seemed determined to fight with them, but without hitting the FIGHT button. He vowed from that moment on that he would protect Frisk from Chara at all costs.


	11. Midnight Flashback

That night, Sans sat outside Papyrus's bedroom door, making sure Chara didn't get any ideas.

"So tired...ughhhh," Sans moaned, trying not to fall asleep. Frisk did not know that Sans was still up, but Gaster did. He teleported to Sans & Frisk's room so Sans wouldn't see him. Frisk was sleeping in his son's mess of a bed. Her blue-and-purple sweater was thrown over the back of a chair, and she was wearing a white tank top instead. He gently shook Frisk awake. She sat bolt upright in Sans's bed with a panicked look in her eyes. She realized Sans wasn't there and panicked more.  
"GASTER! Is everyone okay?!" She yelled.

He nodded. "Calm down, Frisk. I was waking you up so you can tell Sans to go to bed. He's been up all night, guarding Papyrus's room. I'm worried that if I tell him to go to bed, he'll get frustrated with me."

Frisk sighed with relief. "Don't scare me like that, Dad."

Gaster blanched. "Did you just...?"

"Oh! Do you still want me to call you Gaster?" Frisk asked, seeing the blush on Gaster's face.

"No, I just didn't expect you to call me your father so quickly..." He was blushing deeper, blue on the left side and orange on the right. They faded into each other in the middle of his face, rather than mixing and making brown. Frisk liked how Gaster's face did that. Everything on the left side was blue, and the right side was orange.

"Hey Dad...I've been meaning to ask you...does Papyrus have magic? I noticed that Sans's magic type is blue and yours is both blue and orange, so I was curious..." Frisk said.

Gaster sat on the edge of the bed. "Papyrus does have magic. His type is orange. He hasn't fully developed it yet, nor has he tried. He doesn't know about it."

Frisk was shocked. "Really? He doesn't know?"

"No."

"If he knew, how would you develop the powers?"

"I would have to train him. I trained Sans at a very young age because he needed to help me at the lab, plus I thought it would be good to start him on self-defense early. But Papyrus was only one year old when I...when I was ripped from existence. I never got a chance to train him."

"How old was Sans?"

"He was five. By then, he was a mature child and he had developed his skills well. I started training him when he was three."

Frisk fell silent. She processed this information. "Wait, Sans is 22 now and there's four years between them...so Papyrus is 18? You've been gone for seventeen years?"

Gaster sighed. "Yes. Anyway, why don't you go get Sans to go to bed?" Frisk nodded and left the room. Gaster teleported back to the couch and laid down. He heard low, unintelligible voices in the hallway upstairs, then a door closing. With a satisfied smile, he fell back asleep.

_Meanwhile, in Sans & Frisk's room..._

Sans took his hoodie off and threw it on the chair on top of Frisk's sweater. Frisk sat cross-legged on the bed, watching Sans. "What if Chara-"

"Enough." Frisk cut Sans off. "Let's not talk about her, okay?"

Sans sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry. I can't help but worry."

"I know, Sans. She won't hurt Paps, okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, Sans."

Sans fell asleep almost immediately, his arms wrapped around the human he loved. A dream began.

He was in the Core. 'Oh no, not here.' he thought, looking around. Behind him, there was his five-year-old self, playing with one-year-old Papyrus. 'Damnit, not this!' he thought. He watched his younger self entertaining his brother. A small smile appeared on his face, remembering. He heard a shout, and whipped around. There was his father, levitating a human girl with his magic. The girl wore a tutu and ballet shoes, and she was resisting against the magic. He placed the girl in a machine, strapping her down. The DT Extraction Machine. She was shouting for him to let her go, but he ignored her.

The machine shut its doors and the girl's yells were cut off. Sans didn't remember that happening. He glanced behind him real quick. His five-year-old self was paying no attention to the actions around him. All that mattered at that moment was Papyrus. That explains why he didn't remember. He turned back to his father, who pulled a lever. The machine started up. Within a minute of it being on, it malfunctioned. With a bang, the very fabric of space and time was ripped, and the portal appeared. Sans's five-year-old self ran past him with Papyrus in his arms. 'Nonononononono!' Sans thought. He followed his younger self.  
"What is that, Dad?" Five-year-old Sans asked Gaster.

"I don't know..." Gaster answered.

Tears ran down 22-year-old Sans's face as he helplessly watched his father fall off the edge again. Gaster held on, ordering his crying younger sons to stay back. Glowing pools of blue and orange tears mingled on the floor. "I love you both," Gaster said, then lost his grip and fell into the portal. It sealed up. Younger Sans turned his back to the cliff. He held Papyrus close, humming a calming song through his blue tears. Papyrus eventually stopped crying and fell asleep. Younger Sans walked to the coat stand in the corner. He gently slid Papyrus's coat onto his sleeping form, then took his father's red scarf and looped it around his baby brother's neck, pulling it up over his mouth. He took his own hoodie and put in on, then walked out towards home.

22-year-old Sans woke with a start. Glowing blue tears had dripped into Frisk's hair and on her bare shoulder. He sat up as gently as he could, trying not to disturb Frisk. Sans wiped the tears off his face, then took the hem of his t-shirt and soaked away the tears on Frisk's shoulder. The ones in her hair would dry by themselves. He looked at the eighteen-year-old human sleeping peacefully in his bed. He loved her so much. Sans kissed her cheek and laid back down. He fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	12. Fueled On Hate

In the morning, Sans woke up before anyone. He grabbed his hoodie and teleported to the living room, being careful not to disturb Gaster, who was still sleeping on the couch. He flopped onto the recliner, kicking his feet up. Sans just sat there thinking about Chara and Frisk. He sighed. Quiet, almost silent footsteps came down the stairs. Frisk appeared at the threshold to the living room. Her tank top was slipping off one shoulder slightly, and her hair was a mess.  **'Hot damn...'** Sans thought, blushing deep blue. Frisk adjusted the tank top and said,  
"I woke up and you weren't there, so I was a bit worried, then I remembered what you like to do in the morning." She smirked.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps thundering down the stairs. Papyrus was awake. He didn't acknowledge any of them as he went to the kitchen. Gaster woke up from Papyrus's loud footsteps.  
"Good morning, you two." he mumbled to Sans and Frisk. They greeted him, then followed Papyrus to the kitchen. He was making a quick breakfast for himself, still silent. He wrapped a bagel with cream cheese in a paper towel and brushed past his siblings. Gaster stumbled into the kitchen just as Papyrus was walking out. Stepping back to avoid getting bowled over, Gaster asked,  
"Where are you going, Papyrus?" Papyrus stopped and looked back. His eyes weren't full of the life they usually were.

"To see an old friend." He said. Frisk, Gaster, and Sans looked at one another, alarmed as Papyrus smirked and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

"Let's follow him," all three of them said at once.

They promptly left the house. Frisk realized too late that she was wearing only a tank top and shorts with no shoes on. She froze before stepping into the snow.  
"Uh...guys?" She said. Sans turned around, stopping Gaster. They realized her situation.

"We'll wait." Sans told her. Frisk ran back inside, her teeth already chattering. After she was dressed, she rejoined them outside and they set off again. The three of them followed his boot prints all the way through Snowdin. They ended up at the door to the Ruins. It was wide open.

"Why would he go to the Ruins?" Frisk asked out loud. Then it hit her.  
"Flowey! That's who he's visiting! Asriel and Chara were best friends when Chara was still alive, so the whole 'visiting an old friend' thing makes sense. And Asri - er - Flowey...whoever he is, he's so full of hate that Chara might be going to feed off him now!"

Sans was relieved. "At least she'll leave my brother alone now." They all walked into the purple-bricked hallway of the Ruins. Frisk was the only one that knew exactly where she was going. She led them to the stairs.

"This is where that lady lives," She told Sans. "The one you tell jokes with." Sans nodded silently, ready to meet the friend he'd only known through a door.

"I hope she won't be mad at me..." Frisk sighed.

"Why would she be mad at you?" Gaster asked.

"She offered for me to live here when I first fell. I refused, and when I left, she told me to never come back. Well, I'm going back, and I hope she isn't mad when she sees me."

Gaster understood. They began to walk up the stairs. They turned a corner and climbed the last few stairs into Toriel's house. The door out of the house was straight ahead of them, but Frisk was tempted to look in the living room.  
"Wait here..." she told them. She summoned all her courage and walked into the living room. Toriel was sitting in the big, comfy chair by the fire reading a book.  
"M-mom?" Frisk stuttered, tears spilling rapidly. Toriel looked up, and when she realized who it was, she was shocked.

"M-my child...? Is it really you?"

Frisk smiled; her tears were both those of shame and those of joy. "Yeah, Mom, it's me. Frisk." Toriel stood up and hugged Frisk. Frisk cried into her mother's robe.  
"I'm so sorry I left!" She said.

"It is alright, my child. Everything is alright..." Frisk pulled back. She decided to tell Toriel what was happening.

"Do you remember Chara?" she asked.

Toriel jolted at the name. "Chara...she and Asriel were inseparable. Yes, I remember her."

"W-well, Asriel is Flowey, and Chara, well she's evil. She...uh, she can feed off of determination or hate, and possess any body with it. She has possessed Papyrus, and fed off of his determination for spaghetti. He made pancakes for breakfast. *shudders* He just went down to talk to Flowey, and I think Chara is going to possess him next and use his hate." Frisk was bawling by the end of her explanation. She was scared, worried, and ashamed for leaving all at once.

"It will be alright, my child." answered Toriel as she knelt and hugged her daughter again. Toriel was very surprised, as she had never heard Frisk's voice, and to hear all of this news as well.

"We don't have much time before she reaches the entrance to the Ruins where you fell. Hurry, we must go," Toriel said. Sans held Frisk's hand (while blushing blue), and Gaster held Toriel's hand. In a flash of blue and orange, they were at the entrance of the ruins. Papyrus was already there, but was limp on the ground. They all saw a shadowy figure in front of Flowey. It looked like Frisk, only with longer hair and a green and yellow sweater.

"Are we too late?" Frisk asked quietly.

"I don't know," Sans replied. He realized that he was still holding her hand, but he didn't let go. Gaster quietly summoned a GasterBlaster, but kept it hidden. They slowly inched closer so the two enemies wouldn't see them.

"...we'll work together. I'll take out Smiley Trashbag and his girlfriend/your look-alike, and you take out Dadster, Spaghetti-Lover, and Goat Mom," Flowey said to Chara.

"Damnit, that evil flower is gonna try to take us out," Sans mumbled to himself.

"I already got the Spaghetti-Lover. He doesn't have anymore determination left inside of his weak little body. That was an easy one. I'll do Dadster and Goat Mom. And  _never_  call me the human's look-alike again." Chara replied. Her eyes glowed a fiery red, filled with pure determination. They would soon also be filled with hate.

"Alright then, we have a deal, right?" Flowey asked. He held a vine out to Chara.

"Yes, we do," Chara replied. She took the vine, but instead of shaking it to confirm the deal, she went inside of him.

"W-What?! I thought we h-had a d-deal?!" Flowey exclaimed. He groaned in pain as the hate was drained out of him. Chara's laugh echoed on the walls. Gaster aimed the GasterBlaster at Flowey, coming into view.

"You think you can stop me, Dadster? Ha! Don't make me laugh," Chara growled. "You're gonna have to try a little harder than that. I know that puny blaster won't do the job, thanks to your son, Sans." Sans teleported to Flowey, eye flashing blue and yellow. Flowey/Chara continued, "I am immune to your blasters. Both of them," Chara then left Flowey's body, who was now limp like Papyrus, and went into view of them. Frisk could see Chara's HP, defense, and attack. All of her stats read 999+.

"That's right, Frisk! You can't stop me with only one attack like the others. It's going to take a lot more than one reset to beat me!" Chara said. Her eyes were now a dark crimson color, flashing with a bright red or a jet black. She laughed demonically and disappeared to go attack her next victim.


	13. Chara's In Control

"Oh no, this is not going to end well," Gaster said. He remembered the nightmare he had, thinking that was the future. He shuddered at the thought of it. Sans's eye sockets grew wide with fear, thinking about what would happen if they were all turned to dust and if Frisk was possessed again.

"Ugh...I don't feel so good..." A familiar voice groaned.

"Ah! Papyrus! Are you okay?!" another voice yelled. Everyone turned around to see Mettaton, but he looked a little different. Frisk recognized this form as Mettaton NEO. The first voice was Papyrus. He was finally conscience.

"M-Mettaton? I-is that r-really you?" Papyrus asked, tired and confused. Mettaton was confused at what he was talking about, but then he realized that he was in NEO form.

"Yeah, it's just a bit of a different form. I used the cannon," He raised the cannon on his right arm, "to blast open the ruins door and get in here."

"Who might you be?" Toriel asked. She has never seen Mettaton before, and she didn't have a TV, so she never heard of him.

"Who am I?" Mettaton was confused. Everyone knew who he was, although, he had never seen a TV down here when he came through. "I am the  _fabulous_  Mettaton!" He answered, flipping his girly hair.

"Oh, well hello, Met- tatron was it?

"Uh, Mettaton."

"Ah, alright,"

Frisk looked up and saw the sun above, the hole in Mt. Ebott, the only known entryway to the Underground from the surface.

"Hey, Frisk. What are ya looking at?" Sans asked. He noticed Frisk staring at the entryway for a while.

"Oh! I was...just looking at this. This is the place where I fell into the Underground," Frisk responded. She was thinking about the life she left behind. Her mom, her dad, everyone.

"Ya sure? You look like you're gonna cry," Sans said. Frisk wiped her eyes and her hands came away wet.

"I was just thinking about the surface again. Sorry," Frisk said, realizing she couldn't lie about it. They all started walking back through the Ruins, Sans with Frisk, Papyrus talking to Mettaton, now back into EX form, Gaster and Toriel leading the way to solve the puzzles that lie ahead of them.

"Hey, Mettaton. I have a question for you?" Papyrus asked

"Shoot," Mettaton responded

"Can you blush? I mean, I somehow can, but I don't know if you can."

"Maybe, I actually don't know." Mettaton felt his cheeks heat up. He looked at his reflection in his arm, which was shiny and polished, and saw that he was glowing hot pink.

"Well, I guess I can, haha," He replied. It was an even darker pink, magenta. Papyrus noticed this, and started blushing a light orange.

"Why are you blushing, Mettaton?" Papyrus asked, curious

"I-I actually don't know. I've never felt this way before," Mettaton replied, sounding nervous. Gaster took note of this, thinking about how they're acting towards each other. Even though Mettaton's a star and shows affection towards everyone, this is different. He thought of this as a...

"DAD, WHAT?! YOU THINK THAT I LIKE METTATON AS A CRUSH?! WHAT THE HECK?!" Papyrus screamed. He was now a very dark orange. He jumped into the old tree near the entrance to Toriel's home.

"Wh-what? How did you know that I'm the only one with that- Oh god," Gaster said. Mettaton was a very dark shade of hot pink from hearing this.

"Dad, does he have-?" Sans started to ask.

"Yes, Sans. He has telepathy. You have telekinesis, while he has telepathy." Gaster replied. Frisk looked confused, not knowing what they were.

"Telekinesis is the supposed ability to move objects at a distance by mental power or other nonphysical means. Telepathy is the supposed communication of thoughts or ideas by means other than the known senses," Gaster told Frisk, since he knew what she was thinking.

In the shadows looming above, Chara was eavesdropping on them.

"So, the robot likes the skeleton. He looks like he's a good source of energy," Chara laughed evilly with hate and determination flashing from her eyes. "Let's see what type of soul he has." She flew over to him, but realized it was too dangerous to be out at this time.

"Later, I can't be seen right now. Dadster is there, along with Smiley Trashbag, so this will be hard. But not so hard with these stats!" She flew out of the Ruins and into Snowdin, to try and find anyone else who would be a good victim.


	14. A Skeleton and a Robot..?

"Mettaton, why did you climb up here?!" Papyrus asked, still in the tree. Mettaton climbed up there to be with him. Everyone else was just down there looking up at them.

    "I am going to make some Butterscotch Pie. Come, everyone," Toriel said, getting the hint that Papyrus and Mettaton want to be alone.

"I always noticed that you got a little warmer when you're just next to me. Why?" Papyrus asked, now that they were alone.

"I don't know," Mettaton replied, sounding nervous.

"You know you can tell me. C'mon, pleaseeeeeee?"

"Alright fine. Ever since my creation, I've been watching Alphys's cameras. I watched Frisk, until she reached Snowdin. I saw Sans for the first time, knowing that he was a comedian. Then I saw you. The fun-loving, spaghetti making, younger brother. I decided to stay there and watch you for a few minutes, but a few minutes turned into a few hours. Alphys kept on telling me to stop watching you, so I always said 'Alright, 5 more minutes.' and stuff like that. But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Every few hours you did the puzzles, more hours got added on to how much I watched you. Until finally, I ran out of battery. The last thing I remember was me falling to the ground from the chair. Alphys told me that she rewatched what I was watching, and she knew something was up. Days went passing by, and everyday I got on, she noticed that I was turning pinker and pinker each passing day. When I saw that you were with your dad, I turned on the audio, and heard you talking about and to him. Knowing that this could be a good opportunity to finally meet you, I decided to go see you the next day. After filming my cooking show, I got the email from Alphys saying that he was in Snowdin. I figured that you would be there for the next day. Realizing that I was your idol, I thought I had a good chance with you. So there." Mettaton finally explained. Papyrus was a very dark orange.

"Y-you like me?" Papyrus asked, nervous

"Of course I do! You remind me of myself a little, also, you're kinda cute," Mettaton replied, blushing pink. He leaned in and kissed Papyrus on the cheek.

Everyone was watching through the window. Frisk fangirl screamed right there, and Mettaton heard it. Mettaton and Papyrus turned around to see Gaster, Toriel, Sans, and Frisk there, watching the whole thing.

"DUDE, WHAT THE HE-" Papyrus started to say, but fell backwards out the tree.

"I got you!" Mettaton yelled. He grabbed Papyrus's hand, but also fell out of the tree. They landed in a very awkward position, with Mettaton on the bottom and Papyrus on the top.

"Well, this is awkward," Mettaton finally said after a long awkward silence. They both quickly got up, and looked at everyone else.

Gaster was thinking about why his son liked a robot, but then remembered that he had telepathy.

"Because I can, Dad," Papyrus responded. Gaster facepalmed.

"What did he say?" Mettaton asked.

"He said, 'Why does my son like a robot?'."

"I think it's cute," Frisk said. She did think that Papyton sounded nice, and they did look cute together.

"I agree. Gaster, let them be," Toriel said. Gaster does not like this idea for 3 reasons:

He likes a robot.

If they do go out together, Papyrus would be gay, which was something Gaster probably wouldn't mind.

Mettaton is a star, and Gaster is scared that Mettaton could dump him in a bad way, and leave him scarred for life.

"Ah, alright, fine. But if anything bad happens, you two are to never see each other again," Gaster finally said, eyes flashing menacingly.

"YES! Thanks Dad!" Papyrus said. Spaghetti appeared out of nowhere, and was splattered all over Sans.

"Ugh, spaghetti, why spaghetti?" Papyrus mumbled.

"Are you FREAKING kidding me?! Again?!" Sans exclaimed. He teleported back to Snowdin, accidentally taking Frisk with him.

"Hey, Papyrus, I want to ask you something." Mettaton said.

"Okay then, go ahead," Papyrus replied. Just as he said that, Gaster went inside with Toriel to check on the pie, but was looking back at them with a look that says, "Don't do anything bad or you're both banned from seeing each other."

"Do you want to perform in my show?" Mettaton asked

"Of course! I'd love to!" Papyrus replied

"Alright! Today is it then!"

    "Wait, wha-" But Mettaton was already dragging him through the Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, and then into the Core.

    Chara was looming above. Now knowing this information, she said to herself, "I can finally get that MTT wannabe. Hahaha... Let's see what this relationship brings to them once I'm done with this..." She flew to the Core to plan her attack on the skeleton and robot.


	15. A Ruined Love Poem

"Alright, lovebirds, time to- Where did they go?" Gaster said after he and Toriel ate part of the pie. Gaster had 2 pieces of pie for Papyrus and Mettaton, and 2 wrapped up for Sans and Frisk.

    "They're just kids, let them be," Toriel said. "You aren't like this with Sans and Frisk,"

    "'Cause they both are always together and they live together! Plus they're older!"

    "I understand that, but remember you and-"

    "Don't say her name, please..." Gaster was remembering his soulmate. She was the most amazing person he ever met, and she was also a skeleton. The memories of her made Gaster tear up.

    "Excuse me," he said. "And thank you for the pie."

    "Anytime," Toriel replied. In a flash of blue and orange, he was at the Skelebros' House. He looked around to see Papyrus and Mettaton not there.

    "Have you guys seen Mettaton and Papyrus?" Gaster asked, worried.

    "Yeah, they're on TV," Sans replied, watching Mettaton's show. He was spaghetti-free and cuddling with Frisk on the couch. Gaster was just staring at them.

    "Guys, stop trying to Underflix and Chill," Gaster told them. Frisk and Sans jumped up when they heard of this.

    "DAD, WHAT THE HELL?!" Sans yelled. Gaster was smirking just slightly, and sat in between them. Frisk and Sans were slightly annoyed that he was interrupting them.

    "Wait a minute..." Gaster said, registering what Sans had said before. "PAPYRUS IS ON METTATON'S SHOW?!" He jumped up and teleported to the Core. Once he was gone, Sans and Frisk looked at each other and shrugged. They got back to cuddling, and continued watching the show.

    When Gaster got to the Core, the show was just reaching the finale. But instead of the dance off,

    "I have something special, just for Papyrus, my special someone," Mettaton said. The audience awed at this.

    "This is a poem called 'Say Yes.'" Mettaton announced. Papyrus knew this poem. Sans used to sing it to him when he was little.

"Say yes, and we could surf the highest waves,

Your hand in mine, never losing faith.

We could climb Mt. Ebott, and as we gasp for air,

You'll say you love me,

And I love you."

    Papyrus knew what came next, so he jumped in and said the next verse.

"We could do handstands in the sky,

And you'll catch me when I fall.

I'll take you to the stars and leave you in utter awe.

And though standing on a comet with you is absolutely reckless,

Loving you is even more so; but I'm happily helpless."

They both did the next verse together, as a duet in harmony. The audience was cheering for them, and Gaster was backstage, just like "WHATTTTTTT????"

"Say yes, and some days will be not only spring,

But we will endure the harsh days winter will bring.

Together we will face somber rainy days,

But with you by my side we can wait for summer's sunny rays.

We will know what makes each other cringe,

But hey, we'll take it inch by inch."

    Papyrus was smiling and blushing a dark orange, and Mettaton was almost purple. After the last line of the verse, Gaster passed out from shock. Luckily, Burgerpants was there to catch him. "Damn people..." he grumbled.

"And though some days you will be too tired to fly with me,

I will heal your broken wings."

"Now," Chara said. She was watching the whole thing, and decided this was the perfect line to go in. She dove in and possessed Mettaton. Even though he's a robot, he has a soul, which makes him possessable. Before the next line was said, Mettaton transformed into his NEO form. With both eyes red, and Chara in control, he ruined the next lyrics and changed them into hate.

"'Cause my hate for you will exceed that of the highest degree,

And I will decline willingly what life brings.

So say no,

And take my hand; you will learn.

That I hate you to the core."

"Papyrus, you are the biggest, dumbest idiot I've ever met. Got to hell, damnit," Mettaton said to Papyrus, still possessed. Papyrus was just looking at him, and Gaster was regaining conscience.

"Mettaton, this isn't you. What's going on?" Papyrus asked, worried.

"I lied about the things I said about you. I'm the badass here, and you're just a weak little idiot. Go. To. Hell."

"DAMNIT METTATON! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"The only thing wrong is that you're in my way. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Papyrus was getting orange tears in his eyes, and was starting to think that he is a worthless piece of trash, and that Mettaton is just better than him.

"F-fine! Then I w-will!" Papyrus yelled to him, stuttering. He ran offstage, out the doors, and to Snowdin, crying orange tears onto the floor, leaving a trail behind him. Gaster was now fully recovered, realizing what had happened.

"YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!" Gaster yelled at Mettaton.

"Pfft. He's the idiot here. He accepted to come here." Mettaton replied cooly.

"You broke my son's heart!"

"He's a skeleton! He dosen't have a heart, you fool."

"Well he has a soul, so shut up, will you?" After Gaster said that, Mettaton's eyes turned back to pink, and he fell to the ground. Chara had taken all of the determination out of him. He hit the ground with a loud  _THUD_. Slowly fluttering his eyes open, Gaster had a blaster ready to shoot.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH! WHAT THE HELL!" Mettaton shouted, now back in EX form.

"W-what?!" Gaster said, confused. He did, in fact, notice that Mettaton's eyes were red before, but he thought that was normal. Gaster realized what had happened and got rid of the blaster. The audience was leaving to stay safe, not knowing what was going on.

"M-Mettaton? Is that really you?" Gaster asked, concerned.

"Yeah, BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE A FREAKING BLASTER THING POINTED AT ME?!" Mettaton yelled. He didn't know what was going on.

"Well...it was...it was...Chara," Gaster finally said once everyone else had left.

"Chara? Who- Wait...You mean, Chara Dreemurr? As in, the king and queen's adopted child? Haha, you're joking, right?" Mettaton said to him, not believing that was true.

"You've got time, right?" Gaster asked.

"Yeah, obviously. Or I wouldn't be here right now," Mettaton replied, sounding curious. Gaster spent the next 30 minutes explaining to Mettaton about Chara, the portal, resets, and the audio change. Mettaton was linking this to his knowledge that he already known.

"There. Now you know," Gaster finally finished.

"Wow, I can't believe it...Are you sure this is right?" Mettaton questioned.

"Positive," Gaster replied.


	16. Stage Drama. Happens Everyday

Sans and Frisk were going to the Core when they (literally) bumped into Papyrus, who was still crying orange tears.

    "Oh no, what did that male robot slut do now?" Sans mumbled. He knew it was from the show, since he hasn't seen Papyrus cry this hard since the Undyne-Mettaton thing on his show. Papyrus didn't talk to her for a whole two weeks. Sans's eye was flashing cyan and yellow.

    "M-mettaton...Dad...h-hate," Papyrus tried to say, but instead broke down and cried on the wet floor of Waterfall.

    "I can't believe he said all those bad things about me after admitting that he likes me. I just can't. That damn jerk. Excuse my language," Papyrus spilled.

    "Wait, Dad is still there right? S︎h︎i︎t︎!︎ Chara's probably still there, and he's gonna have a bad time if he fights her," Sans said. He grabbed Frisk and Papyrus and teleported to the stage.

    "Do you...actually like Papyrus?" Gaster asked, back at the stage.

    "Of course I do. He's sweet, kind, energetic, and very talented," Mettaton answered, turning pink.

    "Well, Chara doesn't think so," Gaster said, pointing at a demonic child ghost behind Mettaton.

    "AHHH!" Mettaton screamed as he saw her. He jumped up, and Papyrus caught him.

    "Hey, Mettaton," Papyrus said

    "Oh! Hi, Papyrus," Mettaton replied. After saying that, Papyrus threw Mettaton.

    "WHY DID YOU SAY ALL THOSE MEAN THINGS ABOUT ME?!" Papyrus yelled, not noticing Chara.

"Ugh, love. Not level of violence, but  _that_  love. Bleh. Alright, let's get down to business," Chara said. She was in a somewhat physical form, but she glitched out periodically.

    "Smiley Trashbag, nice to see you again. Lay off the hot dogs and hot cats for a while, 'kay?" She said to Sans. He pulled out a GasterBlaster and shot it at her. She dodged it expertly.

    "Remember, we met once before, so I know your attacks," Chara teased, with the bright red flashing in her eye.

    "DAMNIT! Chara, please, don't bring that up," Sans told her. He felt the pain of when she cut his chest open, the blood dripping down his favorite sweater...Chara standing there, laughing...Frisk...Frisk crying for Chara to stop. Death had slowly come upon him, turning him to dust. The memories made Sans break down, right there. Papyrus stared at Chara, eyes blazing with rage.

    "YOU LITTLE DEMON BITCH!" Papyrus yelled. A GasterBlaster appeared behind him; it looked different than Sans's and Gaster's, but it was similar. It shot out an orange beam, and hit Chara out of surprise. But her HP only went down 1.

    "What?! How did you do that?!" Chara asked, surprised. It had been a while since she has been hit, and she was not used to pain. She quickly recovered from her shock and laughed. "HA! Pathetic. You're just a pushover that's in my way," Chara said, turning into ghost form so she couldn't be hit unless a powerful attack was upon her.

    "Papyrus, how did you..." Frisk started to say, but realized that Papyrus was starting to develop his powers on his own. And Chara was started to realize this also.

    "Chara, I swear to god if you do anything to Papyrus, you are gonna have a bad time," Sans went right up to her and said. He was face-to-face with her, and Frisk was feeling very uncomfortable seeing this, since she was Sans's girlfriend.

    "Uh...I'm right here, you know," Frisk said. Sans realized his mistake, but then Chara decided to be evil and kiss him. It was a short and sweet one, but it made Frisk furious. Very furious. Very fast.

    "Oh no," Gaster mumbled quickly. Frisk was walking over there, with her anger raging out of control.

    "What are you doing- FRISK WHAT THE HELL?!" Sans shouted at her, but she just kept on walking towards Chara.

    "What. The hell? Why did you kiss him?" Frisk asked Chara. Chara was pinned up against the wall, too scared to move. Frisk was pissed off, but Sans realized this was part of Chara's plan. He flung an arm out towards his girlfriend and took control of her soul, turning it blue. He yanked her backwards into his arms.

    "FRISK! Don't lose control. Chara is only doing this to make you mad. It's not my fault. Calm down," Sans told her, and she did, but not all the way.

    "Remember, Frisk. We are the same person. We were one before you BETRAYED ME," Chara said. Her eyes turned black when she said the last words. Frisk remembered erasing all the files so the Genocide run wouldn't affect her other runs. The thought of that made her shudder. Sans grabbed her hand and the next thing she knew, she was in Hotland.

    "Guys, did you not notice that Sans and Frisk left us...?" Mettaton finally said. Papyrus and Gaster turned around to see just Mettaton there, alone. He had a broken leg, but did not notice.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you guys alone. SEE YA!" Chara said, looking bored. She left, flying out of the ceiling. Gaster quickly shot a Blaster at her, but it was too late. The blast hit the ceiling, and broke the main audio, video, and light cables. The room went completely dark. Luckily, Mettaton was a robot, and illuminated light from his eyes.

    "This should help," he said. He tried standing up, not knowing his leg was broken, but he did now.

    "W-what?! I can't stand," Mettaton shouted. He put the light on his leg, and saw it was broken.

    "Oh, it-it's broken. Haha..." Mettaton said. He fainted afterwards, not being able to finish his sentence.

"Can we keep him?" Papyrus asked happily.

"Just until he wakes up. I'll call Alphys in the morning to tell her what has happened," Gaster replied, not very enthusiastic

"YES!" Papyrus yelled. He ran over to the unconscious Mettaton, and picked him up. Noticing that Mettaton was too heavy for Papyrus alone, Gaster helped. They teleported home and laid Mettaton on the couch. As for Sans and Frisk...They were at the Core.


	17. Different Perspectives

When Frisk realized where they were, she hesitated before walking to the edge of the Core with Sans. "I don't think this is safe. Why did you bring me here, anyways?" Frisk asked, worried about falling.

    "It's alright Frisk. If you fall, I'll catch you," Sans reassured. He sat down, looked out to the Core, and told the story from his perspective. Frisk sat down beside him, listening to the other perspective.

    "After my mom died, Dad went on to create this machine. I know he told you his side, but you don't know it from my side. The day he fell was the day he first actually showed Papyrus the machine, even though he was too young to understand what it did. Dad was going to show us what it did on that day. I think he thought if something went wrong, then at least he knew what it did. 'Stand back,' Dad told us. He lowered the human into the machine, and was just about to turn it on when Alphys came rushing in. 'Dr. Gaster! Umm... T-the t-time space c-continuum stream i-is going off c-course! The n-numbers are o-off the ch-charts!' she stuttered. He didn't think that this was a problem, since this is a determination project, and nothing to do with time. The human wasn't paying attention, but looked like she was trying to reach something. 'D-do you want t-to go on w-with the e-experiment?' Alphys asked. 'Yes.' Dad replied, but he didn't sound 100% confident about his answer. Alphys told Papyrus and I to go with her to the back, so nothing happened to us. He flipped the switch just as the girl reached the reset button. The machine powered up, and the question popped up, asking, 'Do you really want to reset?' Just as the machine was about to take the determination out of her, she hit yes. The world started to shake, like an earthquake, and she was gone. But the world didn't go back to normal yet. With the power of determination and the power from the machine, it opened the portal. 'What is that?' I asked Alphys. Before she could react, I ran to the portal, still holding Papyrus's hand, taking him with me. Almost there, Dad shoved me out of the way, and slipped. He was holding onto the edge, about to fall. 'STAY BACK! THAT'S AN ORDER!' He shouted at us. 'D-Dad?! Please, grab my hand!' I told him. Papyrus obeyed Dad, letting go of my hand and taking a step back. But I stayed, trying to convince him to hold on. Every second that passed by was a second lost trying to save him. He was about to let go when I heard the last words from him. 'I love you both,' He said, and he let go, falling into the portal. I was crying so hard, and Papyrus was tearing up, but he still couldn't comprehend what was going on. The portal shut, leaving only Papyrus, Alphys, and me, alone. I was just standing there, and I couldn't move. 'D-dad, Where are you?' I asked, hoping to get a response. But nobody came... 'GOD FREAKING DAMNIT! I SHOULD'VE USED MY MAGIC TO PULL HIM UP! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!' I shouted. 'S-sans! C-calm d-down!' Alphys told me, but I shoved her away, eye flashing. 'I SHOULD'VE SAVED HIM! HE DIDN'T DESERVED TO FREAKING DIE. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!' I screamed and ran out of the Core all the way back to Snowdin. I left Papyrus there with Alphys, forgetting about him. I hid in the woods, crying all over the place. I felt so guilty, and I felt like I was responsible for Dad's death. The next day, I remembered Papyrus, and quickly teleported to the lab. Alphys was there, watching anime with Papyrus. 'Thanks, Alphys, for taking care of Papyrus.' I told her. 'You're welcome!' She replied nicely. I took Papyrus, and teleported back to Snowdin, not knowing where I was going," Sans told Frisk. It was a long story, but it was helpful to Frisk, now knowing more about what happened, even though she already heard it.

"Wow, hearing it from your perspective really changed things for me," Frisk finally said after a long silence. Sans started tearing up, and was crying the next second. He fell into Frisk's arms with a waterfall of blue tears falling down his face. Frisk kissed him on the head, hugging him.

"I-I want to forget it..." Sans started. His crying slowed down, but it still was a lot. "I don't want to lose him again,"

"Don't think like that Sans, everything will be okay," Frisk reassured him.

Chara was looming above, listening to them.

"Hahaha...should I get him now?" She asked herself. She was thinking about getting that Smiley Trashbag out of the way, so she can get her full form.

"He just spilled something very personal to her, and to me. I can tell everyone about how much of a crybaby brat he is, or...hmm...I'll wait until later. If I do it now, it will be too suspicious to Frisk. Later..." She flew to the lab, and went down the elevator to grab some very important things she needed to help her.


	18. Broken and Fixed

Mettaton was still lying unconscious on the couch, and Papyrus was sitting next to him on the floor. Gaster was busy doing some math and equations to help get rid of Chara for good. Finally, Mettaton woke up. "Nngh...what the hell happened this time?" he muttered, sitting up. Gaster looked up from his work. Papyrus had fallen asleep with the side of his face resting on Mettaton's arm. Mettaton noticed this and started blushing

    "So cute," Mettaton whispered to himself. Gaster let out a sigh and picked his son up without using his magic.

"I'll be right back, Mettaton." he said, and carried Papyrus upstairs. After he had Paps tucked into bed, he went right back downstairs to fill Mettaton in.

    "Okay, Mettaton. What do you remember?"

    "Um...I remember the demon Dreemurr girl busting through the ceiling...then I couldn't stand because...because...oh, because my leg was broken." Mettaton said, looking down at it. It still gave him the creeps to see his beautiful leg destroyed, as wires hung out of the open metal and sharp metal pieces sticking up every direction.

    "Okay. Not much happened next. You blacked out when you saw your leg and we brought you back here. Sans and Frisk still aren't back, and I'm starting to get worried about them..." Gaster trailed off. He sighed again. "I'll call Alphys now so she can fix your leg, okay?"

    "Okay. Thanks."

    "No problem."

    Later that day, Sans and Frisk finally came home. Alphys was there, fixing Mettaton's leg, being careful not to move it.

    "Oh! H-hi Sans, hi Frisk," Alphys said.

    "Hey Alphys! How's it going?" Frisk asked. "Is Season 5 of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie out yet?"

    "O-Oh! Not yet...I think they stopped the series," Alphys sadly said. She then continued working on Mettaton's fabulous leg. Sans and Frisk went upstairs.

    "Ahhhh, is it fixed yet?" Mettaton said. He looked scared, as though he thought his leg would never be fixed in time for his show.

    "I'm not making any promises, but h-hopefully," Alphys replied.

    "Oh dear! My audience would be so upset if the show was canceled! I-I can't let that happen," Mettaton exclaimed. He bursted into tears, now definitely overreacting and visually worried, not only about himself, but about his viewers, who depended on him.

    "M-Mettaton? You okay? I can hear you crying from upstairs," Papyrus said tiredly, looking out from his door that was now open.

    Mettaton looked up at his adorable little skeleton. "Oh, o-of course, darling. I'm okay." he said, wiping his eyes as to not fry his circuits. Papyrus knew this wasn't true, so he came downstairs and sat on the floor next to Mettaton again, careful to stay out of Alphys's way. Mettaton smiled through his tears and placed a hand on Papyrus's head. Gaster looked away, still not used to Mettaton and Papyrus's love. He decided to check on Sans and Frisk, and maybe do some Dadstering to find out where they went and what took them so long. Also make sure they're not doing anything that Frisk isn't old enough for. He went upstairs.

    Gaster stopped in front of Sans and Frisk's door, then raised a hand to knock. When he did, there was no answer at first. So he knocked again.

A sleepy-sounding Frisk said,  "Come in..." Gaster opened the door.

"Oh, hey Dad." Frisk whispered. She was laying in bed with Sans, who was asleep with his arms around her.

"Hello, Frisk. I was wondering if I could speak with you and Sans for a minute, but since he's asleep..." Gaster said, looking at Frisk. She looked at him with a face that said,  _Should we wake him up?_

"If you want to wake him up, then sure, go ahead," Gaster replied. Frisk gently shook Sans.

"Sans, wake up," Frisk whispered. Sans did not respond to this, and Frisk is pretty impatient. She shoved Sans off of the bed, and he woke up on impact.

"W-What the hell happened?!" He asked, scared. He climbed back up onto the bed with Frisk.

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering what you guys were doing," Gaster replied truthfully.  _Making sure you two weren't loving each other or anything,_ he thought. There was a long and awkward silence. Gaster finally broke the silence.

"Well, okay then, goodnight Sans, goodnight Frisk," Gaster said.

"Umm...goodnight Gaster" Frisk said tiredly. She fell back asleep right onto Sans's chest.

"Yeah, goodnight Dad," Sans said and fell asleep as well.


	19. Amalgamate City

Behind the scenes, Chara went to the True Lab to get the Amalgamates. On the way there, she stole a music player from Monster Kid.

"HEY! What are you doing Fr- wait, you're not Frisk!" He yelled at her.

Chara let out a cackle as she continued his running.

He was listening to some sort of Alternative/Western song. She checked the song title and saw it was called Destined by an artist called Groundbreaking. She immediately changed it to a more... appropriate song. While running, she saw her soul, glowing brighter with every step she took. She knew she was getting close.

_Meanwhile, back at the Skelebro house..._

    Frisk slept deeply, dreaming pleasantly of Sans and a future with no evil demons. Suddenly, her dream took an alarming change. She was in their house back on the surface, looking out at Mt. Ebbott through a window. Sans sat nearby at a table, looking through pictures of Frisk and her various monster friends. Soft music played in the background. Frisk sang to the music.

_"Shadows settle on the place that you left._

_Our minds are troubled by the emptiness._

_Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time._

_From the perfect start,_

_To the finish line."_

    Frisk threw open the door to the house and ran toward Mt. Ebbott, continuing to sing. She reached the summit and looked down at the hole that led to the Underground.

_"Well if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones._

_'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs."_

    Chest heaving from her run, Frisk pulled up her reset menu. After a moment's hesitation, she brought her hand down on the reset button.

_"We're setting fire to our insides for fun._

_Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong._

_The lovers that went wrong."_

    When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in front of the screen on which you name the fallen human. A pair of pale, ghostly hands travelled down Frisk's arms and made her type "Chara." The hands placed a knife in her palm and closed her fingers around it, then pulled away. Frisk entered the world.

_"And you caused it."_

    She began a Genocide route, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

_"We are the reckless, we are the wild youth._

_Chasing visions of our futures."_

    Sans knelt in front of one of the dust piles, staring at it in disbelief. Suddenly, he felt a jolt of panic and stood abruptly, running across Snowdin as fast as he could. Frisk stood in front of Papyrus, brandishing a knife. She glitched, and Chara became visible for a brief second.

_"One day will reveal the truth._

_That one will die before he gets there."_

    Frisk slashes the knife across Papyrus's neck, and his body disintegrates. She ignores his head's claims that she can still be good, crushing him under her foot. Frisk continues on, disappearing just as Sans bursts into the clearing. He falls to his knees in front of his brother's scarf, surrounded by his dust.

_"And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones._

_'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead, and they are gone._

_We're setting fire to our insides for fun._

_Collecting pictures of the flood that wrecked our home._

_It was a flood that wrecked this home."_

    Sans puts on the scarf and stands, tears falling steadily down his cheekbones. He pulls a picture out of his hoodie. It depicts Frisk and Papyrus posing together, Papyrus holding a plate of spaghetti. His hand ignited in blue flame, burning Frisk out of the picture. He stares at it a moment longer, then puts it away and starts toward Judgement Hall.

_"And you caused it."_

    Frisk continues through the Underground, killing everyone in sight. She reaches Judgement Hall, where Sans stands waiting for her. They stare at each other from across the room, silhouetted by the sunlight filtering in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

_"Well I've lost it all, I'm just a silhouette._

_A lifeless face that you'll soon forget."_

    The battle begins. They both fight valiantly, but something changes. Frisk is no longer the one fighting. Chara has taken over completely, leaving Frisk imprisoned in her own mind, singing with her hands pressed against the fourth wall, tears streaming down her face. Sans seems to notice the change, and he knows that she's singing from his perspective. His eye sockets grow damp with tears.

_"My eyes are damp from the words you left_

_Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest._

_Ringing in my head..._

_When you broke my chest."_

    Chara finally wins, slashing Sans's chest. He falls to his knees on the smooth marble floor, staring down with one arm wrapped tightly around himself, and the other holding his brother's scarf. He stands shakily and starts walking on unsteady feet, brushing past Chara toward the door.

_"Well if you're in love, then you are the lucky one._

_'Cause most of us are bitter over someone._

_We're setting fire to our insides for fun._

_To distract our hearts from ever missing them._

_Well, I'm forever missing him."_

    As Sans walks, pictures fall from his hoodie, leaving a trail of memories. He pulls one last picture from his hoodie. A drop of blood drips from his mouth onto the picture of him and Frisk. He smiles and closes his eyes, dissolving into dust.

_"And you caused it..."_

    Frisk finally woke up, curled up on her side with tears soaking the sheets beneath her. It was the middle of the night, and Sans was still asleep. She didn't want to disturb him, so she got up, stifling her sobs, and left the room. She knew that there were people in the living room, so instead, she left through the back door without being caught. Once she was alone, Frisk sat against the side on the house and hugged her knees, crying uncontrollably. When would these nightmares leave her alone? When would Chara herself leave her alone? Her tears grew cold and snow flecked her hair, but she didn't care. She just wanted to escape. Sadly, that was not possible.


	20. She Takes Action

A few minutes passed, or maybe hours, she couldn't tell between them. Frisk still sat in the cold, wishing she lost memory of resets like the others did. Her fingertips had slowly faded to blue and her hair had become barely visible through the snow.

Frisk heard the crunch of feet in the snow. For the first time since she walked out, she lifted her head from her knees. It looked to be about early morning, but early enough that no one was awake yet. It was just light enough to see her surroundings. She looked around to see if anyone was there, and she seemed to be in the clear. She figured she should probably go back inside, because once everyone else woke up they'd go looking.

She placed her already frozen hands into the snow at her side to lift herself off the ground. When she grabbed the doorknob, a hand cupped over her mouth.

"Guess who?" the voice asked tauntingly.

_Dammit, Chara! I have to deal with you in my dreams, whenever I leave the house, and now in my home, too?_

Frisk attempted a cry for help, hopefully catching the attention of someone inside, but it was muffled by Chara's hand. Whether it was just the cold, or Chara had done something, Frisk's eyelids fluttered shut.

Not too long later, Sans wakes up and realises Frisk isn't there with him. He sees what's left of Frisk's tear stains, and gets up to find her. He decides that since the living room is occupied, and Frisk wouldn't want wake anyone up, that's she's probably outside.

 _She must be freezing, she could have just woken me up,_ Sans worriedly thinks.Walking outside, Sans stumbles upon a small object- wait...

"Isn't this Frisk's phone?" Sans asked himself, picking up the phone below him. It was cold, so it had to be there for a while. The buttons were almost frozen, but luckily Sans got the home screen to open up. It was a picture of them both together at Mettaton's show. Sans slightly smiled, but then looked at the full on snowy landscape around them.

He looked to his feet, seeing the trail of footprints he was standing on. One led from the door to a small hole in the snow, that had slowly begun to refill itself since Frisk got up. Another led from the town, to the hole, and to the door, then turned back around to retrace its steps.

He wondered if he should go get Dad and Papyrus. As much as he wanted to go find Chara as fast as possible, he realized that Gaster and Papyrus would want to know. He turned to the door again, with the most amount of determination a monster could feel, although he had tears of worry streaked across his cheekbones.

"You okay Sans? You look like you're gonna cry," Papyrus stated, looking over at his brother. Papyrus was always good at reading emotions, and minds.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE FRISK IS?!" Papyrus yelled, waking Gaster up.

"Mmm..? ✡︎☜︎ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To decipher code: http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/affine.php
> 
> Set settings to "Decrypt"
> 
> Change "a" to 5
> 
> Change "b" to 12


	21. This Work is on A Semi-Permanent Hiatus

Hello~

As of now, April 27, 2018, this work has been officially put on a semi-permanent hiatus.

We have had trouble completing this, as well as the next chapter being completely deleted due to errors with my friend's email.

We haven't worked on this story in months, and it may not be completed for a while...

Don't worry! I will come back to it, just not now...

~Alex


End file.
